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Religious Places Row<\/strong><\/p>\n \n By Insaf<\/strong><\/p>\n \n Three cheers to Supreme Court! On Thursday last, it asked courts across the country to \u2018stay off their hands\u2019 from entertaining fresh lawsuits and passing any effective interim or final orders in pending ones seeking to reclaim religious places, especially mosques and dargahs till further directions. This effectively and rightly stalls proceedings in 18-odd lawsuits pertaining to 10 mosques, filed primarily by Hindu parties seeking survey to ascertain their original religious character. These include Shahi Idgah Masjid at Mathura, Gyanvapi at Varanasi, and Shahi Jama Masjid at Sambhal\u2014the last where violence claimed four lives. Of the six petitions being heard, main is of challenging provisions of Places of Worship (Special Provisions) Act, 1991, which prohibit conversion of any place of worship and provides for maintenance of religious character of any place of worship as it existed on August 15, 1947 (barring Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid at Ayodhya). Expectedly there are cross petitions. One hand Muslim bodies seek strict compliance of law and preserve status of mosques, on other Hindu outfits seek these be reclaimed on grounds these were temples before invaders razed them. The onus clearly lies on the special bench to examine the validity of the 1991 law and do justice. The Centre has got four weeks to file its response and then another four weeks for the parties to respond. It will take time, in fact may be a lot of time. But better late than never!<\/p>\n \n Rajya Sabha In Turmoil<\/p>\n The Rajya Sabha, Council of States, is in turmoil. All parties belonging to the INDIA bloc are on the same page and on Tuesday last formally submitted \u2018a no-confidence motion against the learned Hon\u2019ble Chairman (Jagdeep Dhankar) for the extremely partisan manner in which he has been conducting the proceedings\u2026\u201d said Congress in a post on X. A day later, at a media conference, leaders of 11 political parties accused him of being the \u2018biggest disruptor\u2019 and that they were regretfully compelled to move the notice for his removal because of his \u201cbiased\u201d conduct and open defence of the government! He, said leader of Opposition Kharge said, \u201cregularly praised the government and describes himself as \u2018Ekalavya of the RSS\u2019. \u2026he treats Opposition leaders unfairly by making objectionable and insulting remarks against them\u2026in a planned way, he prevents Opposition leaders from speaking in the House\u2026\u201d The Treasury benches are up in arms against the Opposition and are vociferous against the notice. Said parliamentary Affairs Minister Rijiju: \u201cIn 72 years, the son of a farmer has reached the position of Vice-President. He has raised the status of the House. You (Opposition) are making unnecessary allegations against him. You have no right to be members of this House\u2026\u201d Both decorum and democratic traditions as spoken of are thrown to the winds. Will the face-off blow over on Monday, when the House takes up discussion on the Constitution?<\/p>\n \n Allahabad HC Judge In Dock?<\/p>\n Uttar Pradesh\u2019s Allahabad High Court hits headlines for wrong reasons. On Friday last, 55 Opposition members of Rajya Sabha moved a notice for impeachment of Justice Shekhar Kumar Yadav for his speech\/lecture at a VHP event on December 8, wherein prima facie he \u201cengaged in hate speech and incitement to communal disharmony in violation of the Constitution.\u201d He reportedly said: \u201cThis is Hindustan, and this country will function according to wishes of majority. This is the law. That\u2019s how any society works.\u201d Besides, he ventured into cultural values of kids brought up with Hindu values of non-violence, tolerance etc, as against those of other communities that practice animal sacrifice! A day later, videos of his speech went viral and at a press conference MP, Kapil Sibal asked: \u201cIf a HC judge can make a speech like this then question arises how do such people get appointed in the first place? How do they get courage to make such remarks? Why these things are happening in last 10 years,\u201d Clearly, it\u2019s a case of \u2018targeting of minorities, displaying bias and prejudice against them\u2019 and violating Restatement of Values of Judicial Life, 1997. Importantly, Supreme Court too has taken note and sought details from high court. All eyes shall be on what action emerges.<\/p>\n \n Delhi Big Battle<\/p>\n Delhiites should gear up for a hot winter! With Assembly elections due coming February, political parties have got cracking. But ruling AAP seems to have taken the lead. One, it has reached out to the Election Commission accusing rival BJP of \u201cmass voter deletion\u201d conspiracy in Delhi and submitted 3,000 pages of evidence. Most of the votes, it claims belong to SC, Dalits, especially those living in slums. It has asked an immediate halt to such deletions. While it keeps a check, it also is going out to wooing women voters. On Thursday last convenor Kejriwal announced \u2018Mukhya Mantri Mahila Samman Yojna\u2019 which provides monthly assistance of Rs 1,000 to women in Delhi, and if brought to power the amount will be raised to Rs 2,100. The women can start registering from Friday as AAP prepares for a third consecutive term. The big question being where\u2019s the budget? Kejriwal says he\u2019s a \u2018magician\u2019 and shall manage the accounts. Will women voters take the bait? They have after all aided the winners.<\/p>\n \n People\u2019s Roads<\/p>\n Roads in God\u2019s own country are for the public and can\u2019t be blocked. Clear instructions by Kerala High Court not only to political parties but also police. This while hearing a petition on Thursday last seeking contempt of court proceedings against CPM state secretary for \u2018violating judicial directions not to hold meetings by blocking public roads and road margins.\u2019 More so, as \u2018people had the right of way on roads and footpath\u2019 and CPM\u2019s conference on December 5 in Palayam, in Thiruvananthapuram has blocked these. \u2018The stage was constructed right on top of pedestrian\/zebra crossing and completely blocked carriageway on one side of the road\u2026 school kids, infants, elderly persons, among others were stuck in the traffic snarl caused on other side of the road as it was only available space for vehicles going in both directions\u2026\u2019 It can\u2019t be taken lightly, asserted the court and asked Police to list those who participated, and whether their vehicles were seized given. It\u2019s a \u2018breach of trust\u2019 as government holds the roads as a trustee of people! Police must discharge its duties and \u2018there can be no special criteria for the ruling front or opposition\u2019! it\u2019s a message not for the state alone but the nation. \u2014 INFA<\/p>\n \n \n \n \n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Religious Places Row By Insaf Three cheers to Supreme Court! On Thursday last, it asked courts across the country to \u2018stay off their hands\u2019 from entertaining fresh lawsuits and passing any effective interim or final orders in pending ones seeking to reclaim religious places, especially mosques and dargahs till further directions. This effectively and rightly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-253802","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-features"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253802","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=253802"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253802\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=253802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=253802"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=253802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}